40 Quotes by Epictetus About the Stoic Way of Life

1. "Suffering arises from trying to control what is uncontrollable, or from neglecting what is within our power."

2. "He who is not happy with little will never be happy with much."

3. "No man is free who is not master of himself."

4. "There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will."

5. "People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them."

6. “Man is not worried by real problems so much as by his imagined anxieties about real problems”

7. “He who laughs at himself never runs out of things to laugh at.”

8. “Freedom is the only worthy goal in life. It is won by disregarding things that lie beyond our control.”

9. “Only the educated are free.”

10. “It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them.”

11. “Don't hope that events will turn out the way you want, welcome events in whichever way they happen: this is the path to peace.”

12. “Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.”

13. "You are a little soul carrying around a corpse."

14. "All religions must be tolerated... for every man must get to heaven in his own way."

15. "Is freedom anything else than the right to live as we wish? Nothing else."

16. "It is not death or pain that is to be dreaded, but the fear of pain or death."

17. "Freedom is not procured by a full enjoyment of what is desired, but by controlling the desire."

18. "If you seek truth you will not seek victory by dishonorable means, and if you find truth you will become invincible."

19. "It is the nature of the wise to resist pleasures, but the foolish to be a slave to them."

20. "We tell lies, yet it is easy to show that lying is immoral."

1. "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

2. “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master; he can anger you only when you permit yourself to be disturbed by him.”

3. "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows."

4. "We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak."

5. "The key is to keep company only with people who uplift you, whose presence calls forth your best."

5. "Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly."

6. "If evil be spoken of you and it be true, correct yourself, if it be a lie, laugh at it."

7. “First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.”

8. “If anyone tells you that a certain person speaks ill of you, do not make excuses about what is said of you but answer, 'He was ignorant of my other faults, else he would not have mentioned these alone.'”

9. “We should not moor a ship with one anchor, or our life with one hope.”

10. “Nothing truly stops you. Nothing truly holds you back. For your own will is always within your control.”

11. “First learn the meaning of what you say, and then speak.”

12. "Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens."

13. "Difficulties are things that show a person what they are."

14. "No great thing is created suddenly."

15. "No greater thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen."

16. “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.”

17. “To accuse others for one's own misfortune is a sign of want of education. To accuse oneself shows that one's education has begun. To accuse neither oneself nor others shows that one's education is complete.”

18. “Attach yourself to what is spiritually superior, regardless of what other people think or do. Hold to your true aspirations no matter what is going on around you.”

19. “Don't seek to have events happen as you wish, but wish them to happen as they do happen, and all will be well with you.”

20. “Seek not the good in external things;seek it in yourselves.”